Entomologia Sinica (1994) 1, 322-332

Jiacan Li, Xiaoying Zheng, Hong Ni and Tiansheng Chen (1994)
Detection of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi from vector trombiculid mite by DNA amplification using polymerase chain reaction technique
Entomologia Sinica 1 (4), 322-332
Abstract: With reference to the Sta 58 major antigen gene of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi (Karp strain), we had designed and synthesized a pair of DNA primers; and a kilobase fragment of Sta 58 is amplified for using in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the primers. This is the first report on detection of R. tsutsugamushi in trombiculids by using PCR technique. The experimental results indicated that the time for which R. tsutsugamushi could exist in the adult of Leptotrombidium deliense when inoculated into its abdomenal cavity was 360 days at least and R. tsutsugamushi could be transovarially transmitted to the offsprings for 4 generations; and the time for which R. tsutsugamushi could exist in L. deliense after biting the infective mouse was 270 days at least and R. tsutsugamushi could be transmitted transovarially to the offsprings for 2 generations. The results also showed that the PCR technique was highly specific and sensitive for detection of R. tsutsugamushi and the amplification of gene outside body to detect the rickettsiae in the body of trombiculid and mouse can be used as a new method for investigation of scrub typhus epidemiology.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Leptotrombidium deliense